The River of Life

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

According to press materials supplied by Shamrock -- The Trinity Corporation, this satellite view shows Noah's Ark jutting out from the snow on Mt. Ararat. Image Courtesy of Digital Globe Satellite photos of Mount Aratat, Turkey taken by commercial imaging satellite company Digital Globe released today are said to contain proof of the existence of the biblical Noah's Ark.

The images, revealed at a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., are said to reveal a man-made structure at the site where the Bible states the vessel came to rest.

The claim was made by Daniel P. McGivern, president of Shamrock -- The Trinity Corporation, who according to a press release has been searching for the Ark for several years.

The first pictures of the site were taken by the U.S. Air Force in 1949. The images allegedly revealed what seemed to be a structure covered by ice, but were held in a confidential file labeled “Ararat Anomaly” for years. In 1997, the government released several of these images, but experts deemed them inconclusive.

McGovern's is not the first satellite search for the Ark. In 2002, Porcher Taylor, a senior associate (nonresident) at the prominent think tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C., also requested satellite imagery of the area to see if the mythical vessel truly existed.

Sunday, August 12, 2007

The Bermuda Triangle, also called the Devil's Triangle, is an imaginary area that can be roughly outlined on a map by connecting Miami, Florida; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and the Bahamas, an island chain off the coast of the United States. Within that triangular area of the Atlantic Ocean have occurred a number of unexplained disappearances of boats and planes. Additionally, readings on directional devices do not operate normally inside the triangle.

Unusual events in that area date back in recorded history to 1493 and the first voyage of Christopher Columbus (1451–1506) to the New World. In his log, Columbus noted that his compass readings were askew within the area now called the Bermuda Triangle, and he and his crew were confused by shallow areas of sea with no land nearby.

The term "Bermuda Triangle" was first used in an article written by Vincent H. Gaddis for Argosy magazine in 1964. Gaddis claimed that several ships and planes had disappeared without explanation in that area. The article was expanded and included in his book, Invisible Horizons: True Mysteries of the Sea (1965), where he described nine mysterious incidents and provided extensive detail. Many newspapers carried a story in December of 1967 about strange incidents in the Bermuda Triangle after a National Geographic Society news release brought attention to Gaddis's book. The triangle was featured in a cover story in Argosy in 1968, in a book called Limbo of the Lost (1969) by John Wallace Spencer, and in a documentary film, The Devil's Triangle, in 1971. Charles Berlitz's 1974 bestseller The Bermuda Triangle marked the height of the disaster area legend, but some of its sensationalized claims were quickly proved inaccurate.

Saturday, August 4, 2007

According to Variety, rumors are circulating in Asia that China will ban the theatrical release of RUSH HOUR 3, the third comic pairing of Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker.

China’s Film Bureau has stated the film is still under review and has denied any banning but sources close to the film and regional distributors believe otherwise.

The alleged reason for the film’s possible ban is the depiction of a Chinese organized crime family that Chan and Tucker go up against while in Paris. Apparently, Chinese authorities see the film, which has Triads closely embedded into the plot, as fundamentally anti-Chinese. This stance would ensure that cuts were not an option.

Authorities may get around the sensitive issue of banning a movie that stars Chan, who is one of the country’s top international celebrities, by simply locking the New Line pic out of their annual foreign film quota which is limited to 20 imported films per year.

Sunday, July 29, 2007

A scholar challenges Mel Gibson's use of the ancient Maya culture as a metaphor for his vision of today's world.

"Apolcalypto" has very little to do with Maya culture and instead is Gibson's comment on the excesses he perceives in modern Western society. I just wish he had been honest enough to say this. Instead he has created a beautiful and disturbing portrait that satisfies his need for comment but does violence to one of the most impressive of Native American cultures.